Photovoltaic Solar Panels

Photovoltaic solar panels are groups of photovoltaic cells connected together which convert energy from the sun into free electricity. PV solar panels provide one of the best options for a sustainable and renewable source of energy for our homes.

Photovoltaic solar panels now can provide potential savings and incentives for almost any size home to be able to benefit from. This is due to PV solar panels becoming cheaper to manufacture and the launch of the government feed in tariff scheme that now provides financial incentives aimed at encouraging home owners to invest in renewable and sustainable home energy sources such as solar energy.

Who invented Photovoltaic solar panels?

A majority of us quite often assume that the theory and science behind solar photovoltaic panels is a recent invention, however the photovoltaic effect was actually first described by Charles Fritts in 1883, followed by several other theories and developments during the 19th century, including Albert Einstein in 1923 who received the Nobel Prize for his theories explaining the photoelectric effect. Fast forward to the present day and we have highly efficient photovoltaic solar panels capable of providing our homes with free electricity all year round.

How efficient are Photovoltaic solar panels Modern photovoltaic solar panels have increased considerably in efficiency. Photovoltaic cells can now convert around 20% of the suns energy into electricity; future PV solar panels are expected to convert 40% of the suns energy into electricity for our homes.

PV solar panels of a size 1.4 m2 over an 8 hour period will generate between 360 to 400 watts of electricity. Solar Panel installers will often recommend installing on an average house up to eight PV solar panels, each generating a total 2.8 to 3.2 kWh and that’s a lot of electricity totally free for one household to use.

How are Photovoltaic solar panels fitted to your roof?

PV solar panel installers use strong fixings called schuco roof anchors. These anchors are fixed very simply by exposing the rafters underneath the tiles. Once the anchors are set at the correct positions stainless steel mounting rails are then fixed onto the anchors to support the Photovoltaic solar panels.

The Photovoltaic solar panels are then secured to the mounting rails and positioned by the solar panel installers leaving a 50mm gap between the roof surface and the solar panels, this allows for air flow and ventilation to occur correctly avoiding the pv solar panels from becoming overheated.

Finally once fitted the Photovoltaic solar panels are then wired up using a special DC armoured cable and connected to an inverter which converts the DC current to 240 V AC. A electrical management metering system is also installed to record the free electricity generated.

How are photovoltaic solar panels manufactured?

Manufacturing of photovoltaic solar panels entails cutting of the photovoltaic cells structure from crystalline silicon into small rectangles a few millimetres thick. These rectangles are then buffed inspected; any damage that may have occurred during the cutting process is made good. Chemicals are then applied to alter the electrical makeup within the semiconductor or photovoltaic cell.

Flat electrical conductors are laid across the cells connecting them in parallel and then soldered together. The conductors are aligned into a grid too complete the formation of the photovoltaic solar panel cells.

Cells making up the photovoltaic solar panels at this stage of production are completely exposed and can therefore be easily damaged. A layer of glass is attached to the front of the photovoltaic solar panels to protect the photovoltaic cells from becoming damaged and also to absorb and disperse heat so to avoid the PV solar panel from overheating once installed, this being the result of heat from the sun rays that cannot be converted into electricity.

Photovoltaic solar panels are then put into an aluminium housing which is set with thermally conductive cement. The property of the cement also helps to keep the Photovoltaic solar panels from overheating.

The final stage of production is to test the Photovoltaic solar panels by placing the Photovoltaic solar panels into a special sunlit chamber that immerses the Photovoltaic solar panels in strong artificial sun light. A voltage meter is connected to the Photovoltaic solar panels to check that the panels are generating the correct output of electricity.